WATERLOO – Author Alissa York will be visiting Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo and Brantford campuses and Kitchener location as the university’s writer-in-residence. York will visit Laurier’s Waterloo campus Feb. 25, 26 and March 1 to discuss her work, and talk to students and faculty about writing. She is scheduled to visit Laurier’s Brantford campus Feb. 27 and March 7, and the Kitchener location Feb. 28.

York is the author of several books, including Effigy, the story of a polygamist family in rural Utah, and most recently, Fauna, which examines themes of homelessness and the human-animal connection. Effigy was short-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Fauna, a national best seller, was short-listed for the 2011 Toronto Book Award. York’s short fiction has won both the Journey Prize and the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award. Her essays and articles have appeared in publications such as The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire and Eighteen Bridges.

“I look forward with great anticipation to meeting with the students and faculty of Wilfrid Laurier University, as well as members of the wider community, for a series of inspiring, illuminating discussions,” said York. “I see this residency as an opportunity to engage with developing writers and other lovers of the written word, while fostering meaningful connections between artistic, academic and public spheres.”

York’s visit to the Brantford campus on March 7 at 7 p.m will include a joint public lecture with Laurier’s Edna Staebler Writer-in-Residence Andrew Westoll and an art exhibition. She will give a public lecture and reading at Laurier’s Faculty of Social Work in Kitchener on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.

"We are excited at Laurier to be hosting one of Canada's emerging writing talents as our writer-in-residence in 2013,” said Deborah MacLatchy, vice-president: academic and provost. “Her most recent novel, Fauna, resonates on so many different levels, including our need as a species for ‘wild spaces’ and human-animal connections in our increasingly urban lives. We look forward as a community to discussing these themes in fiction writing with Alissa."

York studied English literature at McGill University and the University of Victoria. She is a faculty member at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies and regularly teaches at the Banff Centre for the Arts. York has lived all over Canada and currently resides in Toronto.

York’s visit is sponsored by Laurier’s Office of the Vice-President: Academic and Provost.